F101 News

This would be an Easter weekend like no other, the 30th March saw our F101 Tribe travel from the USA, France, Netherlands, Spain and the UK to gather at ProVela for the international F101 World Hampionships (yes that’s spelt right!).

Six boats and nine Tribe competitors, as well as the design and build team from Foiling World, arrived to a stunning weather forecast, ready to contest the infamous F101 Ham prize over three days of intense coaching, competition and après-foiling socials.

Ten races were held on Saturday 31st with Ron Price winning his first ever F101 race, congratulations Ron! Other race winners included John Iglehart, Alan Hillman, Martijn Buitenhuis and Simon Perry with Simon holding on to a small lead.

The following day numerous race winners were counted, however after looking at the daily scores over six foiling races it was Martijn Buitenhuis who had a small points lead over Simon Perry. That’s a close competition guys!

Here’s a summary of how the Hampionship days unfolded.

Day 1

This day was all about the briefing, rigging and preparation for what would be the long distance coastal race of the event.

The Tribe set off in a fickle 4-6 knots on what was initially a fetch from Los Alcazares to the new home of ProVela’s foiling club in Mar De Cristal, eight miles along the coast of the Mar Menor. These light winds were not to stay for long with the breeze swiftly turning to the south resulting in an increase to 20 knots.

This proved a kind gift from the gods to competitors that had hugged the Mar Menors west coast, seeing gains over the boats that jetted off early to pass close to the Isla de Perdiguera who were left with an upwind finish just to the West of Baron Island.

The first Tribe member to make it home was John Iglehart who enjoyed some refreshing breeze off the Mar De Cristal marina as he waited for the rest of the fleet to make it home.

The breeze made for epic foiling conditions resulting in the entire fleet playing around outside the marina before finally coming ashore to be greeted by ProVela staff armed with cold beers, ready to enjoy the warm, sunny evening.

Day 2

Based on a forecast of light winds the Tribe called for a lay morning. Whilst the sea breeze built, many Tribe members spent the early hours of the day mountain biking and visiting the historic city of Cartagena to see the roman amphitheatre, whilst others simply worshipped the sun.

As the day progressed Foiling World held a short briefing and then proceeded to go through useful learning tips such as best practices, boat set-ups, turning and boat handling. The rules for the day were then decided upon in order to align with the current foiling skills of the Tribe.

From here it was all hands on deck and racing began! The Tribe faced reaching starts, fast foiling reaches and foiling (ish) gybes at the turning mark before a screaming reach home to the finish line. As fatigue set in crews rotated, deciding to maximise the opportunity for personalised coaching. After ten races the Tribe called racing for the day to an end just in time for a late dinner at the nearby picturesque Spanish fishing village of Cabo De Palos.

As the sunset and the muscles ached, everyone enjoyed an evening of fun with friends and family before the foiling action started again the next day.

The following day’s programme was again decided by the Tribe and based on a building sea breeze for the afternoon. With further mischief available in Cartagena some of the senior Tribe members were seen leading the fleet astray, which may explain why some were deemed to be “mission in action” before day three.

Day 3

By the morning of day three most competitors had recovered sufficiently from the previous evenings’ shenanigans before the start of the 14:00 coaching seminar where lessons focussed on downwind foiling techniques. This would be needed as the race management team had set the Tribe some reaching starts to a wing mark followed by a dead downwind leg which would have to be negotiated by foiling deep and gybing, before rounding up the full-on hike-athlon on a close reach back to the finish line.

After an afternoon of flying around in 8-10 knots in perfect sunshine the exhausted fleet were shepherded back to the marina for de-briefing and prize giving. All competitors were scored by a combination of peer group perception and race results over the three days of competition.

Interestingly Martijn thought Simon had won and Simon thought Martijn had won, which goes to show how close the racing was!

The prize giving then took a moment to thank the event sponsors ProVela, Foiling World Hyde Sails, Harken and Gul for all their support.

The Tribe ethos of sailing a great boat, in great places with great people stood true…fun before everything.

Would you like to become a member of the Tribe and learn to foil?

To become a Tribe member you first need to own an F101. Once a part of our Tribe you will be involve in all the behind-the-scenes action where we chat through fastest times, things we’re learning, events and more.

Come see the F101 for yourself at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show.

Stand B38 Hall GH

Alan, Rob and Jerry will be at Alexandra Palace throughout the show to answer any questions!

We will be exhibiting the latest F101 to come out of production, incorporating all the tweaks and developments that we are now applying to production boats. The Dinghy Show really is one of the best boat shows anywhere in the world for sailing enthusiasts, so come along, say hello and who knows perhaps this will be the year you fly for the first time in an F101.

Watch our RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show Trailer!

FOILING INTO THE FUTURE

Don't miss Alan's talk at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show!

Alan Hillman gives a talk at this years' RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show. Talking about the latest developments in foiling, how to get started and what's coming next.

Alan on Technical Updates

Technical updates have been coming thick and fast as we have turned our prototype into production. Many of our components are custom made and whilst our off the shelf Harken deck gear is really straightforward some of our custom parts have taken longer to manufacture. Just a sample of this can be seen in the detail of the mast base. This is now a hard anodised casting which has been designed to take all of our control lines onto one fitting base. To get the angles spot on, test it and then produce a mould and the subsequent part has been a time consuming process but I am sure you agree it was certainly worth the investment and the wait. We have been through several iterations of the fittings for our foil adjustment systems and wand components but again we needed to make sure that the end product is easy to operate and durable for the end user.

What is the F101 Tribe!

The Tribe are you the F101 sailors.

We call you the Tribe, as we think that the group of sailors will be slightly different to those that have in the past sailed conventional dinghies. We want to have an open approach to the style of events that our Tribe want and we also want to make sure that we can listen to the feedback and comments of the F101 Tribe. Good communication and a common desire to make all aspects of foiling a fun and shared experience will form the ethos of the Tribe and don’t be surprised if it is very different to any other class association that you have been part off!

In fact it is going to be fascinating to see the comments of the early sailors, the early adopters of this form of foiling and the founding members of the F101 Tribe. We hope to share the videos and blogs from the first camp in Spain in early December.

Remember if you want to join the Tribe and there are great advantages to being a F101 Tribe member, then production from Rob White and his team at White Formula is now in full flow and build slots are available for early 2018.

Spain F101 Coaching weekend #1

On December 8th -11th we will run our first F101 Coaching clinic at Pro-Vela’s Mar Menor base in Spain, where we will have 4 brand new F101’s being delivered to their owners for the first time. These owners are coming in from the UK, Netherlands and the USA. The plan for the long weekend is to take the new owners through assembly, boat and foil set-up, pre-flight checks, launching and then get out on the water to enjoy some sailing, whilst on the water there will be on the water coaching to ensure each sailor is helped to get up and foiling, and fully up to speed. On hand for the weekend as well as the Foiling World staff, will be Ron Price, the boat designer. We also plan to hold informal meetings to discuss 2018 sailing program to maximise this for all.

The plan is to hold several more of these sessions through the early months of 2018.

Global Distribution

The response to the launch of the F101 has been phenomenal with interest, enquiries and orders coming in from all corners of the world which was very encouraging. However during 2017 we have been almost exclusively concentrating our efforts on getting the F101 fully sorted and ready for full production, which we now have achieved. As you can see above the production boats are now beginning to roll out of the build shed, with the first boats reaching their owners in early December. What this means is that in 2018 we will be fully ready to get your new F101 delivered to you. We have some dealers in place, and other negotiations underway, however we welcome enquiries from interested parties around the world who can help us grow the F101 fleet.

How to buy an F101

The price list can be accessed on our website http://www.foiling101.com/how-to-buy/, along with the various options. For export we have developed 2 plywood export packing boxes, so your new F101 can be sent anywhere in the world. This has been designed in conjunction with a launching trolley that fits inside the packing case. For UK/European orders we have a standard combi trolley/trailer configuration. We are taking orders now for build slots in early 2018, so get in touch if you wish to order your F101 and reserve a build slot.

Foiling World welcomes Rob Andrews to the Team!

Although the news has just been released that I have joined Foiling World, the reality is that I have been working on the F101 since August. Having had a sail on the F101 earlier in the year, it was great to have the opportunity to contribute to the process of getting the boat from pre-production prototypes to the full production boat. It was a similar role that I had done on the SB20 and I just love the attention to detail aspects and trying to think of the ways that people will use the boat and make sure that we have the very best production solution. As I had worked with Alan back in the nineties, when we sailed together and ran the Team Unlimited holiday company, it was very easy to pick up the concept and contribute to the project with Alan and Jerry, and it's become a fascinating project. The fact that it was a foiling project has just made the decision easier and when the opportunity came to join as a co-director I jumped at the chance.

Rob and Foiling

My first foray into foiling was on the Moth at Pro Vela, the sailing school in Spain that Alan started after we sold Team Unlimited to Thomas Cook and the Neilson sailing brand. I guess since then I have become more fascinated in foiling boats with my job at Land Rover BAR, where I project manage the Academy competing on the Extreme Sailing Series in the 5 person foiling GC 32. For me foiling has brought back all the excitement and enthusiasm that I had as young sailor following his early passion into what has been a life long journey surrounded by water and boats on it. Just being part of the Land Rover BAR team for twelve weeks in Bermuda, in the run up to the 35th Americas Cup was an amazing experience and opportunity to learn and all topped off with the young Academy sailors winning the Red Bull Youth Americas Cup for Great Britain.

Rob’s role in the first few months

As for the F101, the challenge has been to convert the pre production prototypes, as there have been three, into the production version. That is now available with the first customers trying their new boats in early December in Mar Menor, Spain. It has all been about attention to detail, such as working with Hyde Sails on the trampoline fitting and specification detail. Confirming with Harken exactly which block or fitting will be used in each specific position and which small change are made to the bespoke fittings as they go into production for the first F101’s. I now have a notebook full of numbers and changes as the process has evolved with many changes impacting on others and in early December we will see how the customer views the attention to detail! Small things like being able to take parts apart without tools (The rudder foil and rudder stock as an example). Can we hold the main foil down without a cleat? As all the load of the boat and the crew are on that cleat when the F101 lifts out of the water and consequently the rope tends to get a good grip of the cleat under that sort of load! The answer we hope has been a simple, easy to follow solution that will no doubt be slightly modified in use, as more of the F101 Tribe, as we call our F101 sailors, get to use the boats.

To celebrate an incredible 50 years of innovation Harken UK, in association with Foiling World, (the brains behind the NEW Foiling 101) are offering the chance to bag yourself and a friend an unforgettable two days learning to fly with some of the best foiling coaches in the business at Pro-Vela in Mar Menor, Spain. The two-day course will cover aspects such as how the boat works, rigging and tuning, pre-flight checks and safety, launching/landing, the secure position, turning around, tiller and main sheet management, how to deploy, furl and sail with the Zero, sailing fundamentals of weight, steering and trim, controlling the boat when foiling, points of sailing and speeding up the turns.

Introducing Foiling 101

Foiling for everyone...

The all carbon F101 is an all-new foiling trimaran, aimed specifically at those sailors who, for whatever reason, thought foiling to be too difficult for them!

The F101 concept originates from the experience of teaching many people to foil in the international Moth class, and addressing the main barriers they faced. So we set about creating a new boat without the design restrictions of a box rule - in this way foiling could be made easier.